Data's Return
by PrincessAurora1000
Summary: Data survived the destruction of the Scimitar, but now the race is on to save him.
1. Chapter 1

Things were looking good for Rhea McAdams; she had just finished Starfleet Academy. She smiled when she thought about the bizarre way that she had decided to enter Starfleet. When she had been built at Starfleet Science labs, people had tried to take her. So she had been placed on the USS Enterprise, for her protection, where she impersonated a Starfleet Officer. Though she had not really been an officer she had come to enjoy that life and had made up her mind to become one.

That short time she pretended to be an officer was not what she cherished the most about her time on the Enterprise. It was there on the Enterprise that she had met the man she loved. It was there that she met Data.

She had started falling for Data almost as soon as she met him. Everything about him just seemed right. At the time Data had just gotten his emotion chip. Rhea felt that she could be herself around him. He was the first person she revealed the fact that she was an android to.

When she had to leave the Enterprise, she kept in touch with him. She looked forward to when they were able to talk to each other, though they were often talking from different sides of the galaxy.

At that moment the computer on the desk in her room called out, "In coming message from the USS Enterprise."

With a smile on her face Rhea answered it, but that smile slowly faded when she noticed that it was not Data on the other ended. It was Captain Picard with a deeply sadden look on his face.

"Good evening, Captain," Rhea said trying to keep the worry she felt out of her voice.

"Ms. McAdams I have some bad news, I'm afraid," Picard said.

"No," Rhea said in little more than a whisper.

"A few hours ago we lost Data in a battle with the Romulan ship Scimitar," Picard continued grief now showing clearly on his face.

With that Rhea woke up. She set up on her bed and rubbed her eyes sighing. It had been five years since Picard had contacted her with that terrible news and it had been five years since she had turned on her dream program. She had turned on her dream program last night with the hopes that enough time had passed since that day to where she would not relive the memory in her dreams.

Clearly she had been wrong.

In the past five years Rhea had went from being an ensign fresh out of the Academy to a Lieutenant and was the current Chief of Security on the USS Starfly. She tried to put Data and how much he had meant to her behind her and move on with her life. For the most part she had, though at time she would wish more than anything that Picard telling her take Data had died was just a dream.

Rhea was determined to let go, which was why she had turned on her dream program. She could not let what happened five years ago control what she did now.

That was also why she was where she was at. She was going to go, for the first time, to the site where Data died. She was going to say a last good-bye to the man she loved. Rhea had taken a few days of shore leave and a small shuttle craft to do this.

Rhea looked out the view port, at the stars going by her shuttle craft, thinking about the fact that in less than an hour she would be at the place where Data had died.

Rhea spent those minutes trying to bury the memory that her dream program had forced her to think back on. She remember how she had been so excited about the fact that she had just graduated and was just getting ready to start her career in Starfleet, and then all that excitement and happiest had turned to sadness. She was lost in her thoughts when the ship told her that she had arrived.

Rhea got up and walked over to the front of the ship and looked out.

For the most part it looked like any other spot in space except for the fact the remains of the Scimitar could still be seen.

Rhea knew that somewhere out there were Data's remains, though it was unlikely that any part of him would be recognizable. She stood there lost in thought as the memories of the times she spent with Data played back to her in her mind. She wonder, not for the first time, what things would have been like if Data had survived.

"Well, Data I cannot begin to tell you how much I have missed you," Rhea said tears falling down her face.

She stood there lost in thought when her sensors started going off. Shocked Rhea went over to see what the sensors had pulled up. What she saw surprised her. The sensors were picking up a positronic signal in the middle of the remains of the Scimitar. The only thing that used positronic systems were androids, and if an android had been destroy or was no only functioning there would not be a positronic signal. Or at least not one strong enough for the sensors on her shuttle craft to pick up.

Rhea stepped back from the sensor's monitor, lost in thought. Could it possibility be Data? She did not know if she could handle the hope that Data was alive somehow, only to find out that it was something else. As much as she tried though, she could not fight down the hope building up inside her that the positronic signal was somehow coming from Data.

She just had to know.

She had not gone far into the crash site, because of how dangerous it was to fly in there. A ship that size could not exploded and there not be a large number of remains left. Most of these remains were still there because of the fact that little to nothing on the ship still work or was salvageable and anything that was, was not worth the risk of going to go get it.

If Data was out there though, Rhea saw that as more than worth the risk. The signal was coming from a spot in the middle of all the mess and it would take a while to get there. Rhea knew the shuttle craft would not be able to get there on autopilot, like it had gotten her to the site. The safest way for her to get to where the signal was coming from would be to take the shuttle in manually.

When Rhea got to the pilot's chair she took a deep breath. She had to remember that there was still a chance that it was not Data. But Rhea's heart would not let the new found hope go away.

There was now a chance, though a small one, that Data was still alive.

It took Rhea a long time to make it to where the signal was coming from. Twice she had almost crashed her shuttle into the floating remains of the Scimitar. After about two hours though, she had reached the site where the positronic signal was coming from and she could almost not believe what she saw. Her android eyes had the ability to see things that most other people could not, and a little ways from her shuttle was Data's head. True most of his skin was torn off and there were a few spots where it was clear that something had hit it, but nothing that would cause any permanent damage.

A smile quickly spread across Rhea's face as she all but ran to her shuttle's transporter controls. Before she could do anything though her luck ended. A small Romulan ship had decloaked.

It was not anywhere near as big as a Romulan warbird; in fact it was small enough to be a shuttle craft from a Romulan warbird. As hard as it was of Rhea she had to just set there. After the battle between the Enterprise and the Scimitar, the Federation and the Romulan Empire had worked out a peace agreement and on paper, at least, the Federation and the Romulan Empire where now allies. It was because of this that there was no longer a Neutral Zone and Rhea was able to be where she was at. The crash site of the Scimitar was in Romulan space.

The Federation and the Romulans had been in an armies race for decades and she did not want to do anything that would end the peace that had come about. Rhea couldn't see any reason though, for that Romulan ship to be there and they would not have braved the dangers of the crash site for no reason. The only reason that Rhea could think of was the same reason she was here, for Data. If that was the case Rhea was not about to show them were Data was.

Unfortunately, Rhea did not have to wait long. The Romulan ship tractor beam turned on and surrounded Data's head. Rhea quickly activated her transporter with the hopes for beaming Data's head abroad before the Romulans' tractor beam took it abroad their ship. She had lost Data once and she wasn't about to lose him again.

The Romulan ship though was able to sense the transporter and quickly turned their weapons on Rhea's shuttle craft. She had no time to react and her shields were down so that she could use her transporter. The Romulans' phasor fit her shuttle craft in the front where the cockpit was. The focus of the hit sent Rhea flying from the pilot's chair. Unharmed, Rhea quickly got up, but it was too late. The Romulan ship had pulled Data's head abroaded; she had lost him again.

Rhea jumped into the pilot's chair with every attention of going after the Romulan ship and getting Data back, but one look at the controls and her heart sank. She may have survived the hit from the Romulans' phasor unharmed, but the shuttle craft was not so lucky. More than half of the controls had been badly damaged and she didn't have the power to go after the Romulan ship, much less do anything to get Data back. She had just enough power to limp back to a Federation Starbase. Rhea slammed her fists down on the control pad in anger, causing two new dents to form on it.

Rhea had come out here with the hopes that by doing so she could move on with her life, but now she knew that Data was still technically alive. She was going to do everything in her power to get Data back.

Rhea took a deep breath and set course for the nearest starbase. When the course was set Rhea went to the shuttle's computers, hoping that it would still work. To Rhea's surprise it did.

"Computer look up the current location of the starship Enterprise," Rhea said in a clear voice. She knew that most people would not worry about a small Romulan ship savaging from a crash site in their own territory, even if it was savaging a part of Data. Also with there finally being peace between the Federation and the Romulans, most people would not do anything to risk that. Rhea knew that her best chance of getting help to save Data was the Enterprise.

Once again luck looked Rhea's way, the Enterprise happened to be nearby getting repairs done. It was not at the nearest starbase and her shuttle did not have the power to get to the starbase it was at. But if Rhea got a new shuttle at the closest starbase, she could meet up with the Enterprise in a day or two. It was the best Rhea could hope for.

**I would like to point out that Rhea is not my own character. Rhea appears in the Star Trek novel, The Immortal Coil. Also I got the idea that Data's head could have survived from a fanfic written by Atrilial.**


	2. Chapter 2

Geordi was just heading off of the Enterprise, for some down time. With many of the ship's computers and systems in needed of repair he hadn't had time for himself. As Chief Engineer seeing that the ship was running to its full capacity was his responsibility, added that on to the fact that he was now the ship's Second Officer and that too had given him a lot of other responsibilities to handle, he needed a break. In all honestly, as much as, he loved the Enterprise he needed to spend some time off of her.

It was because of that reason that Geordi now found himself off of the Enterprise making his way toward Starbase 3's cafeteria, though he knew the food on the Enterprise would be much better.

Starbase 3 was a small starbase that did not offer officers much to do besides work, talk with crew mates and eat at their small cafeteria. Despite its small size though Starbase 3 had all that it needed to fix almost any problem that happened with the operation of a starship. It was built close to the Neutral Zone as a place where starship could get the aid they need, particularly if hostilities between the Romulan Empire and the Federation ever increased.

Five years ago, peace had at last came between these two powers and that worry was no longer there. In fact, this starbase would be closing shortly. When peace came, both the Federation and the Romulan Empire placed starbases in the former Neutral Zone and the officers working here would be moving to a Federation starbase only a few hours away in the Neutral Zone.

As Geordi made his way to the cafeteria he could tell that most of the officers there were looking forward to the move. This was mostly because for the fact that that starbase was a great deal bigger than this one and had a lot more of officers to do in their free time.

Rhea had made it to Starbase 3 from that new starbase a few hours ago, and was sitting in the cafeteria looking for one of the Enterprise's senior officers. She was hoping that she would be able to catch Captain Picard. She looked up when she heard the automated doors to the cafeteria open. Geordi walked in and headed straight to the counter to order. It wasn't Picard, but it was the next best thing.

Geordi didn't noticed Rhea and when he got his food he found a sit on the other side of the cafeteria.

Rhea quickly got up and walked over to him.

Geordi looked down at the food on his tray and wondered if he should have just eaten in Ten Forward. He may be tired of being on the Enterprise but he just remembered how bad the food was at these starbase cafeterias were.

At that moment he noticed someone walking up to him. He looked up and smiled when he noticed it was Rhea. He hadn't seen her in years. In fact the last time he had seen her had been at Data's funeral.

"Rhea, it been a long time," Geordi said when she had made it up to the table.

"Hey, Geordi," Rhea greeted, "mind if I join you." Rhea may have had a smile on her face, but Geordi could easily tell something was up.

"Sure," Geordi said, a little confused. Rhea pulled out the chair directly in front of Geordi and sat down.

The smile disappeared from Rhea's face and her expression became that of someone who had something important to say. Geordi pushed his tray aside; the idea of trying the cafeteria's food was now the farthest thing from his mind.

Rhea took a deep breath and then looked Geordi in the eye.

"I needed your help."

These took Geordi by surprise. What did Rhea need his help for?

"Well, not your help exactly, but the Enterprise's," Rhea explained seeing the confused look on Geordi's face.

Without giving Geordi a chance to even take what she had just said in she added, "I think Data's alive."

If Geordi was surprised earlier, it was nothing compared to how surprised he was by that statement.

"How do you think Data's alive?" Geordi asked. "I saw him destroyed with my own eyes. There was no way he could have survived that. And even if he did, why do you need the Enterprise's help?"

Rhea kept herself from rolling her eyes, though it was a little hard. She knew that not even a week ago she believed the same thing herself.

"You saw the ship get destroyed, not Data," Rhea stated. She then leaned over the table.

"I saw Data's head at the crash site," Rhea continued, "and my shuttle's sensors picked up his positronic signal."

At this Geordi jaw dropped.

"You have Data's head with you," Geordi asked unable to hide the hope in his voice. He knew that if Data's head survived there was a good chance Data was alive. Geordi would always remember a time after the Enterprise had hit a quantum filament, he had found Data's head in Engineering without his body and nearly jumping out of his skin when Data talked to him, the rest of Data was in a Jeffires' tube. There was also the time when his brother B4 had been talking to him and the rest of the senior staff when B4 body had been laying in pieces.

"No," Rhea said looking away from Geordi, "that's why I need the Enterprise's help."

After Rhea explained to Geordi everything that happened from the moment her sensors picked up Data's positronic signal to when the Romulans had disabled her shuttle, Geordi took his untouched plate and disposed of it and then he and Rhea headed to meet with Captain Picard.

They were going to help Data.

When Rhea and Geordi made it back to the Enterprise, they head straight to Picard's ready room. Only a few seconds after they rang the bell to enter Picard told them to come in.

Picard was setting behind his desk with his tablet out go over some reports. Picard looked up when they entered and set his tablet down on his desk. He was surprised to see Rhea there.

"Lieutenant McAdams, to what do I owe the pleasure," Picard said.

"Captain," Rhea said politely.

Geordi stepped forward, hoping just as much as Rhea to start going to find Data.

"Captain, Rhea has reason to believe that Data is still alive and in need of our help." Geordi said.

Whatever Picard had been expecting this was not it and despite all his years of command experiences he could not keep his surprise from showing on his face.

"Are you sure?" was all that Picard could say; he looked directly at Rhea.

"Yes sir," Rhea said, "I had gone to the crash site and the sensors on my shuttle picked up positronic signals, which only come from androids. When I had taken my shuttle in to investigate I was able to see, with my own eyes, Data's head floating out there. So there is a good chance that Data's positronic brain is still working. Unfortunately a small Romulan ship had taken Data's head shortly after I had found it and before I could do anything they had fired at my shuttle disabling me from doing anything."

"Romulans had taken Data's head," Picard asked to see if he had heard right.

"That is correct, sir," Rhea answered.

"The Federation has been at peace with the Romulans for the last five years," Picard said, "I don't believe that the Romulans would want for hostilities to start up again so soon."

"I saw what I saw," Rhea said.

At that moment Geordi cut in, "If Rhea really saw a Romulan ship taking Data's head, we can't ignore that."

"Agreed," Picard answered.

"Geordi, I want you to contact Starfleet Command and then patch them though to my Ready Room," Picard continued and then he turned to Rhea.

"Rhea, I believe that it would be a good idea to set you up with quarters for the time being," Picard said, "I believe that you will be here for a while."

"Thank you, sir," Rhea answered.

It wasn't long after Geordi and Rhea had left Picard's Ready Room, when Picard had connect with Starfleet Command.

Picard quickly told Starfleet Command everything that Rhea had just informed him about. The Admiral from that sector sighed.

"Captain Picard, I hope that you are aware of the fact that you are on shaky grounds here. We have been fighting with the Romulans for many years and have only just obtained peace; also your source of information is only an account from one officer. That is not the most reliable source. Even with this being the case we cannot ignore the chance that a Starfleet officer may be being held prisoner," the Admiral said. "We will connect Romulan authorities, to let them know of the situation. I do not believe that the Romulan government has anything to do with this and I would like to keep hostilities from reforming. You may go to the crash site of the Scimitar and investigate from there, but do not go any farther until we give you the go ahead."

"Understood," Picard said and he turned off the screen. Picard knew that he had to find out if Data was really still out there. Over the fifteen years that Data had served under him, he had come to respect Data not only as an officer but also as a good friend. If Data was still alive and in trouble, he had gotten there because he had saved Picard's life. This only added to Picard's determination to find out if Data was still alive. He also knew that Starfleet was wise to worry about hostilities between the Federation and the Romulans reforming again. It had only been five years since these hostilities had ended and there were many people on both sides that still didn't trust people from the other side.

Picard believed that it was one of these people that had taken Data's head and fired on Rhea's shuttle. If that was the case he saw no reason that they would not be given permission to investigate farther once the Romulan government was informed of the situation.

It would take only a few more hours before all the repairs were done on the Enterprise. As soon as the Enterprise was given the go ahead to leave, Picard was taking them straight to the crash site. The Romulan ship that Rhea saw would be long gone by now, but the Enterprise should still be able to pick up some traces of that ship's warp drive and the tractor beam that was used to bring Data's head abroad. There could still find out some information from that sight as they waited for the go ahead to do more.

In a few short hours Picard and the Enterprise would be going back to the site where they had faced off against the Scimitar.


	3. Chapter 3

It took a few hours for them to finish all the repairs that needed to be done on the Enterprise, but before long they were ready to go. The trip to the crash site only took the Enterprise a few minutes, using warp speed.

The Enterprise, due to its size, was not able to get as close to where Rhea had picked up the positronic signal on her sensors. With Rhea's android memory though she was able to point out where the signal had come from on the Enterprise's computer. They then scanned the general area of where Rhea had seen Data's head.

"Our sensors are picking up evidence that a tractor beam had been used here," Geordi said as he looked over the information displayed at the Engineering station.

"Can you tell when it was used?" Captain Picard asked as he walked up to the Engineering station and looked over Geordi's shoulder.

"For the sensors to be able to pick it up this quickly, I would say that it had to been used within the last few days," Geordi explained turning around to face Picard, "Which fits with Rhea's story."

"Can you think of any other reasons that someone would use a tractor beam here, if Rhea's story isn't true," Picard asked. Picard wanted to believe that Rhea was right and Data was alive, but he also had to consider the possibility that her story was completely true.

"I don't see any reasons to use a tractor beam out here," Geordi answered, "The remaining parts out here are not worth very much and the few parts that have some value are not worth risking one's ship going out there to try and get."

"But is it possible that there are parts out here that someone would find valuable enough to go after?"

Geordi thought for a moment. "It is possible, but not very likely. The Romulans had scanned for salvageable parts of the Scimitar five years ago. If Data's positronic brain had survived the explosion of the Scimitar, though that would be valuable enough to risk retrieving."

"Wouldn't the Romulans have picked up on Data's positronic signal when they scanned five years ago?"

"No, positronic signals are only founded in androids and the only known androids are in the Federation so the Romulans scanners would not have been programmed to pick them up five years ago," Geordi explained. "The scanners on the USS Tripoli where not able to pick Data's positronic signal up when they found him on Omicron Theta, they only found Data because an away team had went down to look for clues on what happened to the colony."

"We haven't given that information to the Romulans. So how would they be able to pick up positronic signals?" Picard asked putting a hand on the back of Geordi's chair and leaning forward.

Geordi turned to look at Picard, he did have a point. Though they had come to a peace agreement with the Romulans, Starfleet still didn't completely trust them and would not have given information like that to them.

"Romulans are allowed to enter Federation space and would be able to stop at Federation Starbases. It would not have been that difficult for them to hack into one of the computers there to gain information and our scanners are now programmed to pick up positronic signals," Geordi said.

Picard nodded, "Agreed, attempt to find out what possible paths the ship that used that tractor beam could have taken." With that Picard walked away from the station Geordi was at and headed back to his command chair.

Geordi turned back to the computer console and began work. It was not easy to do with the remains of the Scimitar in the way, but after a few hours of work he believed he found what he was looking for.

Geordi smiled for a moment when he saw this.

"Captain, I think I've found something."

Upon hearing this Picard quickly walked over to the station that Geordi was working at.

"What have you found?" Picard asked once he had gotten over there.

"I've manage to find four possible paths that a small ship could have used to get through here," Geordi said. Geordi then clicked a few buttons on the control panel and the screen than showed these different paths.

"Which one did they take though, if we follow the wrong one we could lose what little chance we have of finding Data," Picard said leaning forward a little to get a better look at the different paths on the screen.

"I believe I've found the path that they have used," Geordi explained. With that Geordi pointed to one of the paths on the screen, it was the smallest path on the screen and it went through the left side of the crash site.

"I was able to scan the paths and this one had a warp signature going through it. There is no doubt that a ship had used that path." Geordi said.

"Is there any way to tell where that ship went after it left the crash site," Picard asked.

"Yes, sir," Geordi answered with a small on his face. He then spread the image on the screen out and had it show the path of the warp signature.

"We can't tell where exactly where the ship went because of the distance it traveled, but we can tell that it headed in this direction," Geordi explained pointing out where the path ended on the screen. "This puts the ship in one of the outer sectors of the Romulan Empire and there are only two class M planets there."

"Then we know where we are going, but we will first wait for the go ahead from Starfleet," Picard said.

At this Geordi turned around.

"Captain, we can't just leave Data there if he is alive."

"I agree Geordi, but Starfleet has ordered us to not go further until they give us more instructions. Don't worry Geordi, we will be going after Data and if he is out there we will bring him home," Picard said.

It seemed to take forever for Starfleet to contact the Enterprise. It was only a few hours though when Wolf told Picard he had an incoming message from Starfleet.

Picard took the message in his Ready Room. It was the same admiral that had spoken with him earlier.

"Captain, I have managed to speak with the Romulan government about what you have told me. They assure me that they have taken nothing from the remains of the Scimitar in the past five years and they would not have taken Commander Data's remains. They have agreed to allowed you to investigate this matter though in whatever way you see fit and have given you permission to arrest any Romulans that you find evidence of being involved in taking Data's head. They see this action as having possibly endangered the peace they have made with us; if Romulans were involved." The Admiral explained.

"So you believe that they were not involved in this?" Picard asked, hoping to get a full picture of the situation.

"I do not see any reason why we should not take their word on this," the Admiral answered.

Picard nodded in understanding.

"Picard, you have the permission of Starfleet to investigate further," the Admiral finished.

"Understood," Picard said and he pushed the button to end the transmission.

With that Picard walked out of his Ready Room and on to the bridge. He had been hoping to get that response. No matter what Starfleet had said he was going to go find out if Data was really alive or not, but this way he did not have to disobey Starfleet orders. He then told the helm to set course for the sector that the ship had headed to.

After the course was set in and they were on their way Geordi went down to Rhea's quarters. She had left the bridge after Geordi had shown Picard the ship's destination. She was currently setting in a chair in the middle of her quarters, looking out of her viewport at the stars. When she heard Geordi ring to enter her quarters, she didn't even get up. She just told him to enter and take was it.

Geordi entered Rhea's quarters and turned to look at her.

"We're on our way now," Geordi told her. Rhea said nothing in respond. Geordi sighed.

"If he's out there we are going to find him," Geordi said.

"I know," Rhea said, still not turning around to face Geordi.

"Geordi, since I had learned about Data's death I had done my best to move on with my life and not think about him. Yet, when I finally did go to where I had lost him I found out that he was alive," Rhea said surprising Geordi. Geordi didn't say anything and just let her talk.

"If I had gone earlier, I would have found Data before the Romulans and would have been able to help him," Rhea said.

"Rhea you didn't know that Data's positronic brain had survived and he was alive, none of us did," Geordi said, "And if we did know we would have helped him long before now."

At this Rhea smiled.

"Geordi if we find Data and he is still alive, he's going to needed our help getting used to the fact that he has missed the last five years."

"I know and we will be there for him," Geordi told her.

"Only Data's head survived though," Rhea said. Geordi had not thought of this. He had been overjoyed that there was a possibility that Data had survived that he hadn't taken the time to think about how Data was going to live after they found him.

"Then we'll just simple have to rebuild him," Geordi said.

At this Rhea finally turned and looked at Geordi.

"What?"

"We have Data's blueprints stored on the ship's computer and we can use them to rebuild the rest of Data's body," Geordi answered.

"Putting an android together is not as simple as reading blueprints," Rhea said.

"No," Geordi admitted, "but I have worked on Data a number of times and when we find Data he can help us. Data had built an android so he would know what he's doing."

"Well, let's get started then," Rhea said getting up from her seat and heading for the door, before Geordi could say anything else.


End file.
